The creative writing major has been approved and passed through the Board of Trustees this past summer and students have begun being accepted into the major.

According to Ed Haworth Hoeppner, director of the new major, students who have already declared the major will not have to take the 200-level required poetry/fiction workshop, but will still need to take the same amount of writing credits to graduate.

Haworth Hoeppner said that he’s almost 100 percent certain that the 200-level workshop in poetry/fiction will be offered in Winter 2012.

Christina MacDaniel, a sophomore majoring in English literature, was excited when BOT passed the major and was there when Susan Hawkins, chair of the English department, presented the proposal for a final consideration.

“This now means that Oakland University is a viable place for me to pursue my greatest passion,” she said. “However, I was also ambivalent about what the new major would do to the small, but already strong creative writing department

… I hope that OU will build on what they have and make the most out of their current faculty (and courses) before adding new members, rather than tearing down the program and starting over from scratch — there is

already so much greatness in the creative writing department.”

In addition to the courses, Haworth Hoeppner has put in a position request with the CAS department to add new faculty for the major, which if

approved, will aid in the creation of a television/screenwriting major for Fall 2012.